Atlantic Meridional Transect

The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) is a multidisciplinary programme which undertakes biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research during an annual voyage between the UK and destinations in the South Atlantic - previously the Falkland Islands, South Africa and Chile, a distance of up to 13,500km. This ocean transect crosses a range of ecosystems from sub-polar to tropical and from euphotic shelf seas and upwelling systems to oligotrophic mid-ocean gyres. AMT has provided an in-situ observation system for the Atlantic Ocean between ~50°N and ~50°S since 1995, and to-date this has involved 223 scientists from 18 different countries. Data that has been gathered during this project informs on trends and variability in biodiversity and function of the Atlantic ecosystem during this period of rapid change to our climate and biosphere. AMT is unique in its ability to acquire data on long NS transects of the Atlantic and to make observations on basin scales. It represents the longest running programme based in the Atlantic Ocean that makes repeat measurements of core parameters and provides a platform for excellent multi-disciplinary oceanographic research. The main deliverable of AMT is an exceptional time series (1995-present) of spatially extensive and internally consistent observations on the structure and biogeochemical properties of planktonic ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean that are required to validate models addressing questions related to the global carbon cycle.
A full list of AMT publications, which currently includes 220 published articles including two special issues of Deep-Sea Research II and one of Progress in Oceanography, can be found at: http://www.amt-uk.org/publications.aspx. This unique spatially extensive decadal dataset continues to be deposited and made available to the wider community through the British Oceanographic Data Centre (http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/amt/). The programme is hosted by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (http://www.pml.ac.uk/) in collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (http://noc.ac.uk/) and provides an exceptional opportunity for nationally and internationally driven collaborative endeavours. An integral part of the AMT, which has resulted in more than 60 completed PhD theses, is to provide a training arena for the next generation of oceanographers. This aim has been enhanced recently through the development of the POGO-AMT fellowship programme (http://ocean-partners.org/) which supports the participation of students or early career professionals from developing nations. Participants in this fellowship programme benefit from working alongside experienced researchers in the development of research skills, the formation of collaborative links and capacity building for their home institutes and countries.

大西洋子午断面观测计划（Atlantic Meridional Transect, AMT）是一项多学科研究计划，每年航行于英国与南大西洋目的地之间，过往目的地包括福克兰群岛、南非与智利，单程航程最长可达13500公里，期间开展生物、化学与物理海洋学研究。该海洋断面跨越从亚极地到热带的多种生态系统，涵盖真光层陆架海、上升流系统乃至寡营养大洋环流区。自1995年以来，AMT已为南北纬约50°之间的大西洋构建了原位观测体系，迄今已有来自18个国家的223名科学家参与其中。本项目采集的数据，可为气候与生物圈快速变化背景下大西洋生态系统的生物多样性与功能趋势及变异性研究提供支撑。AMT的独特之处在于其可获取大西洋南北向长断面数据，并开展大洋盆地尺度的观测。其作为大西洋海域持续运行时间最长的核心参数重复观测计划，为高水平多学科海洋学研究提供了关键平台。AMT的核心产出为一套高质量的长时间序列观测数据集（1995年至今），该数据集空间覆盖范围广、内部一致性强，针对大西洋浮游生态系统的结构与生物地球化学特征开展观测，可为验证全球碳循环相关模型提供必要的数据支撑。

AMT的完整发表成果清单（目前包含220篇已发表论文，其中包括《Deep-Sea Research II》的2个专刊与《Progress in Oceanography》的1个专刊）可通过http://www.amt-uk.org/publications.aspx 查询。这套独具特色的大空间尺度年代际数据集，持续通过英国海洋数据中心（British Oceanographic Data Centre, BODC，http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/amt/）进行归档并向全球科研共同体开放共享。本计划由普利茅斯海洋实验室（Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML，http://www.pml.ac.uk/）与南安普顿国家海洋学中心（National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, NOC，http://noc.ac.uk/）联合主办，为国内外协同研究提供了绝佳契机。为下一代海洋学家提供培养平台是AMT的核心组成部分，迄今已助力完成60余篇博士学位论文。近年来，随着POGO-AMT奖学金计划（http://ocean-partners.org/）的推出，这一培养目标得到进一步强化——该计划支持发展中国家的学生与早期职业研究者参与AMT项目。该奖学金计划的参与者可与资深研究者并肩工作，从而提升科研技能、建立合作联系，并为其所在院校与国家开展能力建设。